HCAU Travels: Vienna
Vienna – schnitzel, theatre, history, Klimt, coffee and delicious pastry. These things remind me of this beautiful city, where I spent ten months on my Erasmus exchange year.
Looking back, I can still remember how much struggled with working out how long I wanted to go – a semester or a full year? In the end I decided I would go for a year, and in my opinion, it was absolutely worth it!
I arrived in Vienna on the 29th of September 2016 and left around ten months later, at the end of July 2017.
It’s been quite a few months since I came back from Vienna, and I am missing it a lot. Vienna has a number of exciting things, that I am not able to find here in Aberdeen, for example: flea-markets, coffeehouses, a diverse cultural programme. I loved the flea-market culture in Vienna. There are so many of them. Naschmarkt is apparently the best, but if you’re looking for something more cool and funky, you should visit the Mondscheinbazar. I even took part in the Mondscheinbazar and could sell so many books and other things. Vienna was also the city where I started to become more spiritual and learned to accept it as a part of my personality. I loved going to the forest, especially to the ‘Schwarzenberger Allee’ which was forty minutes away from the university. It was such a great way to unwind, meditate or just take a walk outside in nature.
I made many friends in Vienna! I also fell in love with a classmate but was too shy to express my feelings for him. He was an exchange student as well and I really thought whenever I saw him: He’s such a kind guy! When he left after his one semester exchange, I was a bit heartbroken. I decided from that day on to tell every person I liked how feel. In the end, what matters most is not whether the two of you end up as a couple, but that the person knows how much you like them. One of the things I miss most from Vienna is all the lovely people I met. I’m not good at saying farewell, but I hope to see some of my friends again when I visit Vienna again.
I loved going everyday to the campus which had beautiful surroundings. I was notorious for coming late in class. I lived far away from my university and I had to use three different means of the public transport service: bus, underground, tram. My journey lasted 45 minutes until I arrived in front of the English Department. If you are heading on exchange, I recommend that you look for accommodation close to the university!
In March, I got quite overwhelmed, and maybe feeling a little homesick. I found myself getting very upset while I was sitting at the English department. I was about to call my mum, as I cried, but then a girl came up to me, and asked me what was wrong. She advised me to go to my Go Abroad tutor, which I did. I found this helped. Even now, I am still grateful to this kind lady who helped me and made me feel better!
The final piece of advice I have from my time in Vienna is this: If you have the opportunity to take part in an exchange go for it! A year sounds long, but the memories and the lessons you will learn, will stay for a lifetime!
Thank you, Vienna for everything!
All photographs are Natascha’s own.